No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us.

But if we obey his word, we are the ones whose love for God has really been made perfect. This is how we can be sure that we are in union with God:

Can't you see? His faith and his actions worked together; his faith was made perfect through his actions.

Yes, my children, remain in union with him, so that when he appears we may be full of courage and need not hide in shame from him on the Day he comes.

This, then, is how we will know that we belong to the truth; this is how we will be confident in God's presence.

And so, my dear friends, if our conscience does not condemn us, we have courage in God's presence.

For God will not show mercy when he judges the person who has not been merciful; but mercy triumphs over judgment.

I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah than to the people of that town!

I assure you that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to the people of Tyre and Sidon than to you!

You can be sure that on the Judgment Day God will show more mercy to Sodom than to you!"

"You can be sure that on the Judgment Day you will have to give account of every useless word you have ever spoken.

And so the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and how to keep the wicked under punishment for the Day of Judgment,

But the heavens and the earth that now exist are being preserved by the same command of God, in order to be destroyed by fire. They are being kept for the day when godless people will be judged and destroyed.

Everyone who has this hope in Christ keeps himself pure, just as Christ is pure.

So a pupil should be satisfied to become like his teacher, and a slave like his master. If the head of the family is called Beelzebul, the members of the family will be called even worse names!

Remember what I told you: 'Slaves are not greater than their master.' If people persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too.

Those whom God had already chosen he also set apart to become like his Son, so that the Son would be the first among many believers.

Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from beginning to end. He did not give up because of the cross! On the contrary, because of the joy that was waiting for him, he thought nothing of the disgrace of dying on the cross, and he is now seated at the right side of God's throne.

Think of what he went through; how he put up with so much hatred from sinners! So do not let yourselves become discouraged and give up.

but do it with gentleness and respect. Keep your conscience clear, so that when you are insulted, those who speak evil of your good conduct as followers of Christ will become ashamed of what they say.

For Christ died for sins once and for all, a good man on behalf of sinners, in order to lead you to God. He was put to death physically, but made alive spiritually,

Since Christ suffered physically, you too must strengthen yourselves with the same way of thinking that he had; because whoever suffers physically is no longer involved with sin.

You have spent enough time in the past doing what the heathen like to do. Your lives were spent in indecency, lust, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and the disgusting worship of idols.